Method and arrangement for automatically verifying identities of milk producing animals

ABSTRACT

A milking parlor ( 10 ) comprises a row of stalls ( 14 ) accessible to milk producing animals ( 12 ) from a front end ( 14   a ) thereof, and adapted for milking the animals; and an identification station ( 20 ) arranged in the front end for identifying the animals when entering the parlor. A method of verifying the identities of the animals in the row comprises: (i) identifying the animals in the stall located at the far end ( 14   b ) of the row, in the stall located at the front end ( 14   a ) of the row, and in a stall located there in between by first, second and third identification members ( 24, 26, 28 ); (ii) comparing the identifications of the first, second, and third identification members ( 24, 26, 28 ) with the first, last and n&#39;th identifications from the identification station ( 20 ), where the stall located between the far and front ends is the n&#39;th stall as counted from the far end ( 14   b ); and (iii) depending on the comparison verifying the identities of at least some of the animals ( 12 ) in the row ( 14 ).

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the field of dairy farmingand more specifically the invention relates to methods and arrangementsfor automatically verifying identities of milk producing animals in amilking parlor comprising a row of stalls.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Milking parlors with automatic cow identification systems are known inthe prior art, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,192 issued to Sheenet al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,008 issued to Townsend et al.

The parlor typically has an identification sensor at the entrance, whichsensor includes a transmitter antenna and a receiver antenna forcommunicating with a transponder in an identification tag on a collararound the neck of a cow. The transponder in the identification tagincludes an electronic oscillator circuit triggered by interrogatingelectromagnetic RF radiation from the transmitter antenna and sends backa coded identifying signal in response to the interrogating pulse, whichsignal is received by the receiver antenna. The coded identifying signalis an individual unique identification code identifying that particularcow.

The cows initially enter the parlor while passing serially through anentrance having the above-mentioned identification antenna system, andenter then into plural parallel milking stalls, with the first cowentering the stall in the far end of the parlor, the second cow enteringthe adjacent stall, etc., and the last cow entering the stall closest tothe entrance.

The identification system correlates the cow passing through theidentification antenna system with the stall receiving such cow. In thismanner, it should be known which cows are in the respective stalls, andin turn milk production can be correlated and tracked for each cow.

A problem arises, however, when a cow passing through the entranceantenna system has lost her tag or has a malfunctioning tag, in whichcase there is no response signal sent back to the identification antennasystem and hence no cow identified. One stall thus has an unidentifiedcow therein, and the computerized identification system will believethat the next cow is at such stall location.

For example, if the second cow to pass serially through the entrance hasa missing tag, such cow will enter the second stall as counted from thefar end of the milking parlor. However, the computerized identificationsystem will register a second response coded signal firstly from thethird cow, and hence will correlate the third cow to the second stall,i.e. the computerized identification system does not identify the secondcow. Likewise, all following cows will be misidentified by one stalllocation, i.e. correlated to incorrect stalls.

In very small dairy farms, the above problem may not be a significantdrawback because the farmers are familiar with the cows and can correctmissed identifications manually. However, in large parlors, amisidentification can become a significant problem, particularly whenthe farmers do not know the cows well enough to correct errors manually.

In addition to absent or malfunctioning tags, misidentifications may becaused when a cow enters with her tag in an unreadable position, or maybe due to electronic noise interference, etc. Even if the error ormisidentification rate is low, e.g. less than 0.5%, a significantproblem can arise depending upon where such error occurs in the serialflow of cows through the entrance.

For example, if one of the last cows serially entering the parlor has amissing tag, then only the few cows thereafter will also bemisidentified. However, if one of the first cows serially entering theparlor has a missing tag, then each of the cows thereafter will becorrelated to an incorrect stall.

For a parlor with 20 stalls in a row serving about 1000 cows and with acorrect identification probability for each cow entered of 99.5%, theprobability that at least one cow in a row of 20 cows is misidentifiedis 1-0.995²⁰≈10%, which corresponds to about 5 of the 50 subsequentmilking sessions to be performed to complete the milking of the 1000cows. In average a misidentified cow will lead to 10 misidentifications(20/2) since all cows entered after the misidentified cow will also bemisidentified. Hence, in average 50 (5*10) of the 1000 cows, or 5%, willbe misidentified.

Besides, there is no knowledge of exactly which the misidentified cowsare, and thus if the identification system notes that some error hasoccurred, i.e. due to the fact that only 19 identifications are made ina particular milking session the dairy farmer may want to omit theidentification information of that session in order to be sure that allidentifications actually recorded are correct. Thus, only 900 cows(1000−(5*20)), or 90%, will be certainly correctly identified. Forlarger parlors the correct identification probability will be evenlower.

In U.S. Pat. No. 9,59,526 issued to Tucker the above-identified problemhas been addressed and solved by means of an identification correctionmethod which compares produced milk weight values and expected milkweight values in a given milking, and performs a correction by shiftingat least one or more of the expected milk weight values relative to theproduced milk weight values by at least one stall number, to provideaccurate cow identification when there is a misidentified orunidentified cow, such as a cow having a missing identification tag.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to address and solve theabove-identified misidentification problem in a simple and effectivemanner and to thus provide an alternative to the solution disclosed insaid U.S. Pat. No. 9,59,526.

The identification correction method proposed by Tucker has certainlimitations. The produced milk weight has to be measured for each cowand compared with an expected milk weight value, derived from earliermilkings of the respective cow. Thus, the method needs a running-inperiod. Besides, the method relies on that the milk weight values arequite different from cow to cow and that the milk weight produced doesnot vary especially much from milking to milking.

Further, in a milking parlor of the kind described there may be a riskthat a cow is identified, but does not enter the milking parlor. Thisrisk is particularly high at the beginning and at the end of the fillingof the parlor with cows, e.g. a cow may be identified before the firstcow, which really enters the milking parlor, is identified, or a cow maybe identified when the parlor is already full. In such an instance asituation may arise, where the number of identified cows in the stallare equal to the number of milk weights produced, but still the cows aremisidentified. The prior art method by Tucker takes not this intoaccount as it is triggered only by the fact that the number ofidentified cows in the stall are less than the number of milk weightsproduced.

Still further, the identification correction method by Tucker does notprovide any means whatsoever for identifying the cow with anunidentified identification tag or for verifying/correcting the identityof the cows before milking actually takes place.

Thus, there is a further object of the invention to provide a solutionthat overcomes the limitations as identified using the identificationcorrection method proposed by Tucker.

These objects among others are, according to the present invention,attained by methods and arrangements as claimed in the appended patentclaims.

Further characteristics of the invention, and advantages thereof, willbe evident from the following detailed description of preferredembodiments of the present invention given hereinafter and theaccompanying FIGS. 1-5, which are given by way of illustration only, andshall thus not limit the scope of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic top plan view of a parallel stall milking parlorwherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention is implemented.

FIG. 2 is a schematic top plan view of a milking parlor in a herringboneconfiguration wherein another preferred embodiment of the invention isimplemented.

FIG. 3 is a schematic top plan view of a milking parlor in a rotaryconfiguration wherein yet another preferred embodiment of the inventionis implemented.

FIG. 4 is a schematic top plan view of a parallel stall milking parlorwherein still another preferred embodiment of the present invention isimplemented.

FIG. 5 is a schematic top plan view of a milking parlor in a rotaryconfiguration wherein yet another preferred embodiment of the inventionis implemented.

Identical reference numerals are used throughout the Figures to denoteidentical or similar components, portions, details and the like of thevarious embodiments.

In the detailed description the milk producing animals are referred toas cows. However, the invention is not limited to cows, but isapplicable to any animals having the capability to produce largequantities of milk, such as sheep, goats, buffaloes, horses, etc.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a milking parlor 10 for milking a plurality of cows 12. Adouble parlor is shown, including a first row of parallel milking stalls14, and a second row of parallel milking stalls 16, each of whichincluding twelve stalls. Each of the rows 14, 16 is provided with a cowidentification station 20, 22 in a respective front end thereof 14a,16a, through which the cows 12 can pass serially while being identified.

A transponder 21 worn on a band around the neck of a cow 12 approachingany of the cow identification stations 20, 22 is energized by amulti-directional electromagnetic field generated by a double antennaloop (not explicitly illustrated) in a portal structure of that cowidentification station 20, 22. The transponder, when energized, willtransmit unique identification data back to the antenna loop after theelectromagnetic field has been removed. A microprocessor 36, connectedto the respective identification stations 20, 22, is provided to processthe information so that the cow can be identified. For further detailsof the cow identification station reference is made to theabove-identified U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,175, the content of which beinghereby incorporated by reference. It shall particularly be appreciatedthat the transponder may be worn at other positions of the cow than on aband around the neck.

Alternatively, any other kind of cow identification system may be usedin conjunction with the principles of the present invention. Referenceis in this respect made to the above-identified U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,653,192and 9,59,526, and to 5,183,008 issued to Carrano and U.S. Pat. No.5,028,918 issued to Giles et al., the contents of all of which beinghereby incorporated by reference.

After the cows have passed serially through the identification station20 (or 22) they enter sequentially the row of stalls 14 (or 16) arrangedin parallel such that the first identified cow will enter the stallclosest to the far end 14 b (or 16 b) of the row, i.e. the stall denoted1 in FIG. 1, the second identified cow will enter the stall denoted 2,the n'th identified cow will enter the stall denoted n, and so on untilthe row is completely full with the last identified cow in the stallclosest to the front end 14 a (or 16 a) of the row. The microprocessor36 identifies the respective cow and stores the identities inchronological order in a buffer.

When cows have filled the row 14 (or 16) completely they are milkedsimultaneously. During the milking, measurements of the milk produced bythe cows are performed, which typically at least include weights,volumes or flows of the milk produced by each cow. Such information isvaluable in the management of the cows, e.g. for controlling theirindividual feed consumption and for monitoring their health. The milkweights are correlated with the cow identities and are stored by themicroprocessor 36. Upon completion of milking, exit gate reels 23 (or25) are rotated to permit the cows to exit from the milking parlor 10,or the cows may be permitted to leave the row of stalls 14 (or 16) fromthe far end 14 b (or 16 b) thereof.

According to the present invention an arrangement for automaticallyverifying identities of the cows in each of the rows of stalls 14, 16 isprovided. The arrangement comprises for each row (i) a firstidentification member or antenna 24, 30 localized to the stall 1 in thefar end 14 b, 16 b of the row for identifying the cow in that stall 1;(ii) a second identification member or antenna 26, 32 localized to thestall in the front end 14 a, 16 a of the row for identifying the cow inthat stall; and (iii) a third identification member 28, 34 localized toa stall n between the far and front ends 14 a, 14 b, 16 a, 16 b of therow for identifying the cow in that stall n. 16. Preferably, the thirdidentification member 28, 34 is localized to a stall located essentiallyhalf-way between the far and front ends of the row.

The microprocessor 36, being an integral portion of the verificationarrangement, is connected by wire or wireless to each of theidentification antennas 24, 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34 for identifying cowsfrom the signals provided by the identification antennas 24, 26, 28, 30,32 and 34. These identification antennas are similar to the antennas ofthe identifications stations 20 and 22 in operation, but may be designedsmaller and simpler.

Further, the microprocessor 36 is provided with (i) a software module orsoftware code 38 for comparing identifications of the identificationantennas 24, 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34 with the identifications from the cowidentification stations 20 and 22, (ii) a software module or softwarecode 40 for verifying identities of at least some of the cows, andoptionally (iii) a software module or software code 42 for correctingidentities.

The operation of the verification arrangement will now be described withreference to the row 14 only. Each row of the milking parlor is handledseparately by the verification arrangement.

When cows have filled the row 14 completely the arrangement identifiesthe cows in the first, n'th and last stall, as counted from the far endof the row 14 b. The microprocessor 36 then compares, by means of thesoftware code 38, the identifications of the first, second, and thirdidentification antennas 24, 26, 28, respectively, with the first, lastand n'th identifications, respectively, from the cow identificationstation 20. Finally, microprocessor 36 verifies, by means of thesoftware code 40, depending on the comparison made, the identities of atleast some of the cows in the row of stalls 14.

Preferably, the verification module 40 verifies the identities of thecows in the stalls located between the far end 14 b of the row of stalls14 and the stall n (with the stall n included) if the identifications ofthe first and third identification antennas 24, 28 match with the firstand n'th identifications from the cow identification station 20 as foundby the comparison module 38. Similarly, the verification module 40verifies the identities of the cows in the stalls located between thestall n (with the stall n included) and the front end 14 a of the row ofstalls 14 if the identifications of the second and third identificationantennas 26, 28 match with the last and n'th identifications from thecow identification station 20.

Such arrangement provides in general for a lower number of misidentifiedcows since when the identification error occurs among the latter cows atleast the cows in stalls 1-n may be identified and verified.

Further, such arrangement provides for the detection of errors even ifthe number of identifications from the identification station coincideswith the number of measured milk weights, i.e. with the number of cowsactually being milked. For instance, one cow may have entered the row ofstalls without being identified and another cow not entering the row ofstalls may have been erroneously identified in vicinity of theidentification station 20. If both errors occur after the first n cowshaving entered the identifications of cows in the stalls 1-n may stillbe verified.

Thus, the present invention not only provides for a larger degree ofidentified cows, but also prevents misidentified cows from beingverified. As only milk weights will be correlated with verified cowidentities there is no risk that a milk weight correlated with amisidentified cow will mislead the dairy farmer when feeding or treatingthat cow.

Further, the arrangement may be adapted to correct/verify the identitiesof the cows before the milk weights have been measured, e.g. inconnection with the identifications made by the respectiveidentification antennas 24, 26 and 28. In some situations there isimportant to know the correct identities of the cows before the milkingis performed. For example, the milk from cows that are under treatmentmust not be stored with the milk from healthy cows.

Still further, the invention provides for a certain degree of correctionof erroneously made identifications. Several different cases arisedepending on the kind of error occurred and where in the sequence theerror is made.

Suppose that an unidentified cow (i.e. a cow not identified by theidentification station 20) has entered any of the stalls 1-n, firstly itis noted that only eleven identifications from the identificationstation 20, while milk weights will be measured for twelve cows, i.e.for all stalls in the row. Further, the comparison module 38 will notethat the identification of the third identification antenna 28 differsfrom the n'th identification from the cow identification station 20.

Then the comparison module 38 compares the identifications of the secondand third identification antennas 26, 28 with the last and (n−1)'thidentifications from the cow identification station 20 and if theidentifications of the second and third identification antennas 26, 28match with the last and (n−1)'th identifications from the cowidentification station 20, the correction module 42 corrects theidentities of the cows in the stalls located between the stall n (withthe stall n included) and the front end 14 a of the row of stalls 14 byusing the (n−1)'th to last identifications from the cow identificationstation 20 as the identities of the cows in the stalls located from thestall n to the stall located in the front end of the row of stalls, andfinally the verification module 40 verifies the corrected identitiesonly.

A special case arises when the first cow entering the row of cows 14 isnot properly identified by the identification station 20 and when it canbe established that the number of identifications from theidentification station 20 is one less than the number of stalls. In thiscase the comparison module 40 will find no match at all, and comparesinstead the identifications of the second and third identificationantennas 26, 28 with the last and (n−1)'th identifications from the cowidentification station 20 and if the identifications of the second andthird identification antennas 26, 28 match with the last and (n−1)'thidentifications from the cow identification station 20, the correctionmodule 42 corrects the identities of the cows in the row of stalls 14 byusing (i) the identification from the identification antenna 24 as theidentity of the cow in the stall 1, and (ii) the first to lastidentifications from the cow identification station 20 as the identitiesof the cows in the stall 2 to the stall located in the front end 14 a ofthe row of stalls 14. Finally, the verification module 40 verifies thecorrected identities.

Another case arises if the first cow identified by aid of theidentification station 20 does not actually enter the row of stalls 14.Then the eleven last indications of the twelve identifications from theidentification station 20 will actually correctly identify the cows inthe stalls 1-11 as counted from the far end 14 a of the row of stalls.The modules 38, 40, and 42 of the microprocessor 36 may be adapted tocorrect and verify the identities accordingly. It will be detected thatthe identifications of the first and third identification members 24,28, respectively, match with the second and (n+1)'th identifications,respectively, from the animal identification station 20. If thearrangement provides for recording of thirteen identifications from theidentification station 20 actually the identities of all twelve cows inthe row of stalls may be correctly identified.

In whatever situation the identifications from the identificationantennas 24, 26, 28 may be used as the identities of the cows in the1'st, n'th and the stall closest to the front end 14 a of the row ofstalls 14 by the correction module 40.

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate two alternative embodiments of the presentinvention, which are similar to the arrangement of FIG. 1, but areimplemented in other kind of milking parlors.

FIG. 2 illustrates an inventive arrangement implemented in a milkingparlor in herringbone configuration. The parlor is comprised of two rowsof stalls, each including eight stalls.

FIG. 3 illustrates an inventive arrangement implemented in a milkingparlor in a rotary configuration. The parlor is comprised of a rotatablecircular row of twenty stalls. Here, the cows might be milked in aunbroken manner, and not group wise, but the invention may beimplemented by defining virtual front and back ends 14 a, 14 b and byperforming the identification, comparison, optionally correction, andverification for each revolution of the rotary parlor.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4, which is a schematic top plan view of aparallel stall milking parlor, still another preferred embodiment of thepresent invention will be described.

This embodiment is similar to the embodiment of FIG. 1, but includes forthe row 14 a fourth identification antenna 44 localized to a stall ibetween the stall 1 and the stall n, preferably essentially half-waybetween, and a fifth identification antenna 46 localized to a stall qbetween the stall n and the stall closest to the front end of the row,preferably essentially half-way between.

The comparison module 38 of the microprocessor 36 compares now not onlythe identifications of the first, second and third identificationantennas 24, 26 and 28 with the first, last and n'th identificationsfrom the identification station 20, but compares also theidentifications of the fourth and fifth identification antennas 44 and46 with the i'th and q'th identifications from the identificationstation 20; and the verification module 40 verifies, depending on thecomparison of the five identifications, the identities of at least someof the cows in the row of stalls.

The operation of the different modules 38, 40, 42 may be modified tocompare, optionally correct, and verify in a similar manner as describedwith reference to FIG. 1 but with use of five identification antennasinstead of three.

The more identification antennas used the more accurate verification isobtained, and the larger number of correctly identified cows areobtained, but of course to the cost of more expensive equipment and moresignaling/computing, which in turn puts higher requirements on theprocessing capacity of the microprocessor 36. The present inventor hasfound that for a row of N stalls, where N is at least six, the inventivearrangement should preferably comprise between three and N/2identification antennas essentially evenly distributed among the stallsin the row of stalls.

Finally, with reference to FIG. 5, which is a schematic top plan view ofa milking parlor in rotary configuration, still another preferredembodiment of the present invention will be described.

This embodiment differs from the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 3 inthat the first, second, and third identification members 24, 26, 28 arehere comprised of a single identification member 24, 26, 28 arranged ina non-rotatable manner, preferably anywhere outside the rotatablecircular row of stalls.

The arrangement is adapted to identify the cows in the stalls located atthe far end 14 b, at the front end 14 a, and between the far and frontends 14 a, 14 b (i.e. the n'th one) of said row of stalls 14sequentially as the stalls pass by the single identification member 24,26, 28 during the rotation of the row of stalls 14 while milking thecows therein.

In fact, the arrangement of FIG. 5 may easily be adapted to identifycows in every fourth, every second, or even in each single stall bymodifying the software modules 38, 40 and 42 of the microprocessor 36.

It will be obvious that the invention may be varied in a plurality ofways within the scope of the appended patent claims.

1. In a milking parlor (10) comprising a row of stalls (14) accessiblein serial order to a plurality of milk producing animals (12) from afront end thereof (14 a), and adapted for milking said milk producinganimals; and an animal identification station (20) arranged in the frontend of said row of stalls for identifying said milk producing animalswhen passing serially there through to enter said row of stalls (14), amethod of automatically verifying identities of said milk producinganimals (12) in said row of stalls (14), characterized by the steps of:identifying the milk producing animal in the stall located at the farend (14 b) of said row of stalls by means of a first identificationmember (24) provided in that stall; identifying the milk producinganimal in the stall located at said front end (14 a) of said row ofstalls (14) by means of a second identification member (26) provided inthat stall; identifying the milk producing animal in a stall locatedbetween said far and front ends of said row of stalls by means of athird identification member (28) provided in that stall; comparing theidentifications of the first, second, and third identification members(24, 26, 28), respectively, with the first, last and n'thidentifications, respectively, from said animal identification station(20), where said stall located between said far and front ends of saidrow of stalls is the n'th stall as counted from said far end of said rowof stalls; and depending on said comparison verifying the identities ofat least some of said milk producing animals in said row of stalls. 2.The method of claim 1 wherein the identities of the milk producinganimals in the stalls located between said far end and said stalllocated between said far and front ends of said row of stalls areverified provided that the identifications of the first and thirdidentification members (24, 28), respectively, match with the first andn'th identifications, respectively, from said animal identificationstation; and the identities of the milk producing animals in the stallslocated between said stall located between said far and front ends andsaid front end of said row of stalls are verified provided that theidentifications of the second and third (26, 28) identification members,respectively, match with the last and n'th identifications,respectively, from said animal identification station.
 3. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the steps of comparing the identifications of the secondand third identification members (26, 28), respectively, with the lastand (n−1)'th identifications, respectively, from said animalidentification station; and if the identifications of the second andthird identification members, respectively, match with the last and(n−1)'th identifications, respectively, from said animal identificationstation correcting the identities of the milk producing animals in thestalls located between said stall located between said far and frontends and said front end of said row of stalls by using the (n—1)'th tolast identifications from said animal identification station as theidentities of the milk producing animals in the stalls located from saidstall located between said far and front ends to the stall located atsaid front end of said row of stalls; and verifying the correctedidentities only are performed provided that the identification of thefirst identification member (24) matches with the first identificationfrom said animal identification station and that the identification ofthe third identification member (28) differs from the n'thidentification from said animal identification station.
 4. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the steps of comparing the identifications of the first,second, and third identification members (24, 26, 28), respectively,with the second, last and (n−1)'th identifications, respectively, fromsaid animal identification station; and if the identifications of thesecond and third identification members (26, 28), respectively, matchwith the last and (n−1)'th identifications, respectively, from saidanimal identification station correcting the identities of the milkproducing animals in said row of stalls by using the first to lastidentifications from said animal identification station as theidentities of the milk producing animals in the second to last stalls ofsaid row of stalls, as counted from the far end of said row of stalls,and by using the identification of the first identification member (24)as the identity of the milk producing animal in the stall at the far end(14 a) of said row of stalls (14); and verifying the correctedidentities are performed provided that the identifications of the first,second, and third identification members (24, 26, 28), respectively,differ from the first, last and n'th identifications, respectively, fromsaid animal identification station.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 1wherein the stall located between said far and front ends (14 a, 14 b)of said row of stalls (14) is a stall located essentially half-waybetween said far and front ends of said row of stalls.
 6. The method asclaimed in claim 1 comprising the steps of: identifying the milkproducing animal in a stall located between said far end (14 a) and saidstation located between said far and front ends (14 a, 14 b) of said rowof stalls (14) by means of a fourth identification member (44) providedin that stall; comparing the identification of the fourth identificationmember (44) with the i'th identification from said animal identificationstation, where said stall located between said far end and said stalllocated between said far and front ends of said row of stalls is thei'th stall as counted from said far end of said row of stalls; anddepending on said comparison of the identification of the fourthidentification member with the i'th identification from said animalidentification station verifying the identities of at least some of saidmilk producing animals in said row of stalls.
 7. The method as claimedin claim 6 comprising the steps of: identifying the milk producinganimal in a stall located between said station located between said farand front ends (14 a, 14 b) and said front end (14 a) of said row ofstalls (14) by means of a fifth identification member (46) provided inthat stall; comparing the identification of the fifth identificationmember (46) with the q'th identification from said animal identificationstation (20), where said stall located between said stall locatedbetween said far and front ends and said front end of said row of stallsis the q'th stall as counted from said far end of said row of stalls;and depending on said comparison of the identification of the fifthidentification member with the q'th identification from said animalidentification station verifying the identities of at least some of saidmilk producing animals in said row of stalls.
 8. The method as claimedin claim 1 wherein said row of stalls (14) includes at least twelvestalls and wherein said method further comprises the steps of:identifying the milk producing animals at least in every fourth stalllocated between said far and front ends of said row of stalls by meansof a respective identification member (24, 26, 28, 44, 46) provided insaid at least every fourth stall; comparing the identifications of saidrespective identification member (24, 26, 28, 44, 46) provided in saidat least every fourth stall, with respective correspondingidentification from said animal identification station (20); anddepending on said comparison of the identifications of said respectiveidentification member (24, 26, 28, 44, 46) provided in said at leastevery fourth stall, with respective corresponding identification fromsaid animal identification station (20), verifying the identities of atleast some of said milk producing animals in said row of stalls.
 9. Themethod as claimed in claim 1 wherein measurements of the milk producedby said milk producing animals in said row of stalls are performed; andof said measurements only measurements of the milk produced by milkproducing animals with verified identities are utilized in themanagement of said milk producing animals.
 10. The method as claimed inclaims 9 wherein said measurements are weights, volumes or flows of themilk produced by said milk producing animals.
 11. The method as claimedin claim 1 wherein said milking parlor (10) is a milking parlor in anyof a herringbone, a rotary, or a parallel stall configuration.
 12. Themethod as claimed in claim 1 wherein said method is performed by meansof a computer (36).
 13. In a milking parlor (10) comprising a row ofstalls (14) accessible in serial order to a plurality of milk producinganimals (12) from a front end (14 a) thereof, and adapted for milkingsaid milk producing animals; and an animal identification station (20)arranged in the front end of said row of stalls for identifying saidmilk producing animals (20) when passing serially there through to entersaid row of stalls (14), an arrangement of automatically verifyingidentities of said milk producing animals in said row of stalls,characterized in: a first identification member (24) for identifying themilk producing animal in the stall located at the far end (14 b) of saidrow of stalls (14); a second identification member (26) for identifyingthe milk producing animal in the stall located at said front end (14 a)of said row of stalls (14); a third identification member (28) foridentifying the milk producing animal in a stall located between saidfar and front ends (14 a, 14 b) of said row of stalls (14); a comparator(38) for comparing the identifications of the first, second, and thirdidentification members (24, 26, 28), respectively, with the first, lastand n'th identifications, respectively, from said animal identificationstation (20), where said stall located between said far and front endsof said row of stalls is the n'th stall as counted from said far end ofsaid row of stalls; and a verifier (40) for, depending on saidcomparison, verifying the identities of at least some of said milkproducing animals in said row of stalls.
 14. The arrangement of claim 13wherein said verifier (40) is adapted to verify the identities of themilk producing animals in the stalls located between said far end (14 b)and said stall located between said far and front ends (14 a, 14 b) ofsaid row of stalls (14) if the identifications of the first and thirdidentification members (24, 28), respectively, match with the first andn'th identifications, respectively, from said animal identificationstation (20); and to verify the identities of the milk producing animalsin the stalls located between said stall located between said far andfront ends (14 a, 14 b) and said front end (14 a) of said row of stalls(14) if the identifications of the second and third identificationmembers (26, 28), respectively, match with the last and n'thidentifications, respectively, from said animal identification station(20).
 15. The arrangement of claim 13 further comprising means (42) forcorrecting identities, wherein said comparator (38) is adapted tocompare the identifications of the second and third identificationmembers (26, 28), respectively, with the last and (n−1)'thidentifications, respectively, from said animal identification station(20) if the identification of the third identification member (28)differs from the n'th identification from said animal identificationstation (20); said means (42) for correcting identities is adapted tocorrect the identities of the milk producing animals in the stallslocated between said stall located between said far and front ends (14a, 14 b) and said front end (14 a) of said row of stalls (14) by usingthe (n−1)'th to last identifications from said animal identificationstation (20) as the identities of the milk producing animals in thestalls located from said stall located between said far and front endsto the stall located at said front end of said row of stalls if theidentifications of the second and third identification members (26, 28),respectively, match with the last and (n−1)'th identifications,respectively, from said animal identification station (20); and saidverifier (40) is adapted to verify the corrected identities only. 16.The arrangement as claimed in claim 13 wherein said third identificationmember (28) is provided in a stall located essentially half-way betweensaid far and front ends of said row of stalls.
 17. The arrangement asclaimed in claim 13 wherein said arrangement comprises a plurality ofidentification members (24, 26, 28, 44, 46), each provided in arespective stall located between said far and front ends (14 a, 14 b) ofsaid row of stalls (14) for identifying the milk producing animaltherein; said comparator (38) is adapted to compare the identificationsof each of said plurality of identification members (24, 26, 28, 44, 46)with corresponding identifications from said animal identificationstation (20); and said verifier (40) is adapted to, depending on saidcomparison, verify the identities of at least some of said milkproducing animals in said row of stalls.
 18. The arrangement as claimedin claim 13 wherein said milking parlor (10) is a milking parlor in anyof a herringbone, a rotary, or a parallel stall configuration.
 19. Thearrangement in claim 18 wherein said milking parlor is a rotary milkingparlor comprising a rotatable circular row of stalls; and said first,second, and third identification members (24, 26, 28) are comprised of asingle identification device (24, 26, 28), preferably arranged outsidethe rotatable circular row of stalls, and adapted to identify the milkproducing animals in said stalls located at said far end (14 b), at saidfront end (14 a), and between said far and front ends (14 a, 14 b) ofsaid row of stalls (14) as they pass by said single identificationdevice.
 20. The arrangement as claimed in claim 13 wherein said row ofstalls (14) includes N stalls, where N is at least six, and saidarrangement further comprises between three and N/2 identificationmembers (24, 26, 28; 24, 26, 28, 44, 46) essentially evenly distributedamong the stalls in said row (14) of stalls, wherein said comparator(38) is adapted to compare the identifications of the identificationmembers (24, 26, 28; 24, 26, 28, 44, 46) with correspondingidentifications from said animal identification station (20); and saidverifier (40) is adapted to verify the identities of milk producinganimals in stalls located between two adjacent identification members(44, 28) provided that the identifications of said two adjacentidentification members (44, 28) match with corresponding identificationsfrom said animal identification station (20).